Belgium BELGIUM 2025 - Red Sebastian - Strobe Lights

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[crashworld]

They are not subtle with the red. It's way overboard and at one point, I was just looking one large blob of ketchup moving.
"Too much of something is bad enough" as the wise Spice Girls once sang.

The song was also pretty bland and his vocals are average. Not sure why this was even considered as a contender to win at one point. And it's a little self-indulgent for having so many replicas of him. I can get why this performance gets off-putting to people who see it for the first time.

 

[Mainshow]

The exact televote numbers for this semi will be so interesting. I would not be shocked if San Marino or Portugal scrapped in at 10th, with a low enough point advantage over 11th that taking out Italy or any diaspora country for Portugal would already drop them out of the qualifiers. And that will be really harsh on whoever came 11th (which I'd currently suspect was likely Belgium).

And what if Belgium was only #11 because of the 8 or 10 pts from the Netherlands? Maybe if you were taking out these points , would have even been #13 or #14 in the semi?

 

[Mainshow]

Belgian fans on TikTok are saying their commentators alluded to “less funding” for the contest next year due to NQing and they even seemed angry… not sure how much weight they’d have in any decision like that but it’s tea!

I wish people would be less entitled and angry about NQ.
Belgium just finished Top 10 two years ago - with a song most of us thought to flop miserably before the rehearsals.

This year, it's just the other way round.

 

[Ana Raquel]

Yeah, I don't buy the bad vocals excuse for it because he was better than half of the qualifiers vocally.

But let's be real that his voice and the high-pitched notes are not gonna please everyone (and there's in fact several people who complained about it here).

Voice =/= vocals

 

[Ana Raquel]

Also Gustaph being the highest-placed Belgian entry this decadd the way I won

 

[Jupiter]

And what if Belgium was only #11 because of the 8 or 10 pts from the Netherlands? Maybe if you were taking out these points , would have even been #13 or #14 in the semi?

Sure, factor that in when we get the numbers. I doubt it will change as much though, because the block voting between Netherlands and Belgium was never that strong, I doubt it can compete with a freebie 12 from Italy to San Marino or a whole row of diaspora countries for Portugal.

 

[Storm]

I understand the disappointment but I don't get the overreaction regarding this NQ at all. Like, look at Denmark, or Latvia, this only the second NQ in a row. Belgium was Top 8 just two years ago, and they had three other Top 10 results in the last decade as well? Sure they are in the same boat like a couple of other Western countries with no diaspora and that sucks in televote only SFs but the great thing about Eurovision is there's no relegation, no punishment, you can come back next year and theoretically win the whole thing just like that with the right entry

 

[Matze38]

Belgium's elimination was predictable, overhyped by the bookmakers, the song never resonated with the target audience, and older people aren't calling for it. On Spotify, it's ranked worse than Portugal.

 

[lavieenrose]

@hijirio makes an excellent point that we shouldn't try and retroactively switch up on things we thought were strong points for this entry before it NQed, so instead, I'm going to hypothesize that it was something I thought a priori would be a serious problem: a running order spot which put them essentially head-to-head with Norway. Norway right into Belgium is a lot of noise, and it's a lot of cute countertenorial bois, and I (AND I HAVE RECEIPTS FOR THIS) did always wonder if that wouldn't be good news for Belgium should the audience simply prefer Norway. If we've got Portugal 10th-Belgium 11th on our hands, as many suspect we do (not me but "many people are saying" ), Portugal getting a really strong running order spot where they could stand out between the loud and kinda goofy Sweden and the loud and kinda goofy Norway only exacerbates things.

 

[GermanBango]

With so much red last night maybe they should have went with Blue Sebastian instead.

 

[musicfan]

With so many red last night maybe they should have went with Blue Sebastian instead.

I felt like that was the gimmick, red red red red...

Two fan flops in a row now, has the Belgian broadcaster's cool trendy image in Eurovision taken a hit now?

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

Mentissa would probably have qualified (although in fairness I was saying last night that Red Sebastian was safe)

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

I felt like that was the gimmick, red red red red...

Two fan flops in a row now, has the Belgian broadcaster's cool trendy image in Eurovision taken a hit now?

The flop last year was totally avoidable - they had a solid song and picked someone who couldn't deliver it vocally or perform it convincingly. It felt like a NQ both at the pre parties and during the show.

This year, I have no answers on anything that should have been done differently...as I said earlier I didn't like Strobe Lights up to the SF but I thought then it all came together well on the night and felt like a qualifier....

Gustaph (whom I loved) was only 2 years ago and did well, and the supply of decent artists seems healthy. So I think Belgium is far from a crisis situation and doesn't need to make drastic changes especially looking back over a 10 year period.

The one thing I would like to see from them is something in one of the local languages (French, Dutch or even German!) but I don't think that necessarily improves their chances.

I personally would love to see another ESC in Belgium, as I've a soft space in my heart for the country.

 

[toinou03]

Well it's the shocking NQ. The staging was impressive, on of the best we've seen.
But all in all, the song is not that great, the verses are pretty bland, and Sebastian looked very scared. The rave part is great, but that's only a small part of the song.
And the song sounds very similar. It arrived later in the night and failed as well. They probably have eliminated each other.
Probably it would have deserved to qualifiy but I am not in shock...

 

[Fluke]

I thought this would qualify, but it's easy to see why it didn't. The semi was oversaturated with macho gay uptempo dance-pop entries with overly choregraphed, gimmicky and glossy stagings.

Maybe it would have done a little better if it had been simpler, more emotional and focused on him alone, like in the NF. The "clones" were totally unnecessary and confusing, weakening his impact as the lead performer.

I also missed any feeling of a "story" or even coherence, the supposedly symbolic imagery made no sense, it just felt like a random bunch of gimmicks, compared to the NF version which felt like a touching reflection on the difficulties of a young gay man's first relationship and entry into urban gay culture. That meaning was missing here, it was just bombastic and indulgent.

The red-on-red color scheme was a straight-up mistake, but i doubt it's the reason. There simply weren't enough points to go around for all these similar entries, and this and Cyprus lost out.

This semi is going to be a really interesting example of how the semi-final draw can affect results though. Not just only two non-male acts in the semi, but eight male uptempo acts unfortunately in the same semi, many with a bit overly aggressive performance style, flashy and busy stagings that ended up feeling cold and empty, and with too many similar elements otherwise.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

I also missed any feeling of a "story" or even coherence, the supposedly symbolic imagery made no sense, it just felt like a random bunch of gimmicks, compared to the NF version which felt like a touching reflection on the difficulties of a young gay man's first relationship and entry into urban gay culture. That meaning was missing here, it was just bombastic and indulgent.

I didn't pick up on this meaning in the NF either. I assumed it was just about Belgian club culture.

 

[Deluxenite]

Here we go. Flemish minister treathens to go to Asianvision instead of eurovision

België dreigt met overstap naar Aziëvisie na uitschakeling Eurovisie Songfestival

België overweegt het eurovisiegebied te verlaten en over te stappen naar een ander songfestivalbondgenootschap.

nieuwspaal.nl

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

I watched it again and I'm still struggling to point to something that made it NQ.

 

[rasmuslights]

I watched it again and I'm still struggling to point to something that made it NQ.

Again, I was saying since day one that this song and his vocals are just grating and not pleasant. And the whole thing is just a bit cringy.

 

[Biste]

Here we go. Flemish minister treathens to go to Asianvision instead of eurovision

België dreigt met overstap naar Aziëvisie na uitschakeling Eurovisie Songfestival

België overweegt het eurovisiegebied te verlaten en over te stappen naar een ander songfestivalbondgenootschap.

nieuwspaal.nl

Disclaimer for our non-Dutch speaking friends : This is a satire website.
(In case the "asiavision" would not be obvious enough)